BULLETIN | WINTER 2015 5
Rajmohan Gandhi Speaks On Peace And Leadership Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, spoke to students and faculty on the feasibility of world peace at an all-school program in November. A former member (1990-92) of the Indian Parliament, Gandhi has been engaged for half a century in efforts for trust-building, reconciliation, and democracy, and in battles against corruption and inequalities. His biography of his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, His People and an Empire, received the Biennial Award from the Indian History Congress in 2007.
2015 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists: Nine sixth formers have been named Semifinalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship competition. Finalists will be announced in the spring. The Semifinalists are Madison K. Erlandson of Milwaukee, Wisc.; Yixuan Gao of Beijing, China; Noah M. Hastings of Madison, Conn.; Jungsoo B. Lee of Hamden, Conn.; Katie H. Lee of Bellevue, Wash.; Toby Nelson of Middlebury, Conn.; Douglas Z. Qian of Shanghai, China; Joseph A. Suarez of Fairfield, Conn.; and Jane W. Zhang of Shanghai, China. Thirty-two students were named Commended Students in the 2015 National Merit Program. In the National Achievement Scholarship Program there were six outstanding participants and one Semifinalist: Benjamin Kanayo Ofomata of Missouri City, Texas.
Professor Gandhi spoke to religion and international relations classes in the Reading Room of the Mellon Library.
FACULTY AND STAFF PLAY FAIRE
In December, 100 members of the Choate community participated in nearly two dozen workshops led by faculty and other community members.
Participants explored activities from origami to a mini physics “phlotilla” to wearable technology, all with a spirit that celebrated the fun and discovery that learning brings. Participants were also invited to a lunchtime panel, “Choate Alumni Doing Jobs That Didn’t Exist A Generation Ago”, to hear three recent alumni share their experiences. Panelists included Justin Calfo ’10, current writer of The White House’s morning news briefing; Shanti Mathew ’05, master’s candidate at the Institute of Design in Chicago; and Emily Reid ’05, curriculum director at Girls Who Code.
Sixth Former Named Siemens Semifinalist David Shan ’15 of Guilford, Conn., was named a Semifinalist in the 2014-2015 Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. The Siemens Competition, a program of the Siemens Foundation, is the nation’s leading science and mathematics research competition for high school students. The annual event, administered by the Siemens Semifinalist College Board, awards college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 in individual and team categories. Says David: “I have
spent the past two summers working in a renal pathology lab at the Yale Medical School. Simply put, the big picture goal of research in this field is to figure out why chronic kidney disease – the loss of kidney function over an extended period of time – leads so often to cardiovascular disease, the main cause of death in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.”
Author Julie Otsuka at School Meeting At school meeting in September, National Book Award finalist Julie Otsuka gave readings from her novel When the Emperor Was Divine, this year’s assigned summer reading for all students. The novel is based on Otsuka’s own family history at a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Her grandfather was arrested by the FBI as a suspected spy for Japan the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and her mother, uncle, and grandmother spent three years in an internment camp in Topaz, Utah.
FACULTY CHAIRS AWARDED
Students and faculty gathered for the School’s 125th Convocation in September. At the ceremony, Dean of Faculty Katie Levesque announced the awarding of two faculty chairs to veteran teachers: The Minicucci Family Endowed Teaching Chair went to arts faculty member Jane D. Gustin, who began her career at Choate in 1975, and the John J. Maher ’22 Chair was awarded to science teacher Todd F. Currie, a 23-year veteran of the faculty. In the beginning of winter term an Independence Foundation Chair was awarded to physics teacher Jonathan C. Gadoua, a 20-year member of the faculty.